New York Times, Saturday, June 10, 2017

Sometimes it's a choice phrase or two that fuels my themeless-constructing jones and sometimes it's the grid. In this case it was the grid.

I had a yearning to tackle a wide-open grid pattern with a stair-step center of 10 longish intersecting across and down entries. To somewhat simplify the challenge of the task, I settled on this particular configuration which breaks the fill into 3 sections: a broad SW to NE running swath that feeds narrowly into separate NW and SE caverns. So to fill, you just simply (polite cough) populate the central zone with mostly multi-word phrases that have a bit of sparkle or single words that can be elevated with the clues, then hope you can come up with two breathtaking fills for the other two areas. I'll leave it to you if this one came close.

At least, I was able to add 10 new entries to the excellent XWord Info Word List! As always, thanks to Will and Joel for polishing the clues.

It's so tough to do low word-count themelesses well. Few constructors dip into the 66-word territory, and for good reason — it's incredibly difficult to produce a puzzle that's both snazzy and smooth. Most tend to run on the dull side, with a lot of neutral entries, or they feel like they're packed with made-up sounding -ER or RE- words, or they're gloppy with crossword glue.

I think Mark did a nice job today, particularly in the middle of the puzzle, given the level of difficulty there — so many outstanding entries filling that eye-poppingly huge swath of white squares. DNA TESTING stacked atop BEAR ATTACK and HAPPY MEAL, along with DOG KENNEL — such great material!

And running through all those were even more top-notch entries like MILITARY PENSION, BETA MALE (wow, that was tough to parse! Not sure why I kept reading it as BE TAMALE …), and IN A PANIC (crossing BEAR ATTACK!). All of that, held together by fine short material like SECS, ITEM, IBIS; not a dab of crossword glue in sight. Very well done.

I can see why Mark sectioned off the NW and SE corners — such gigantic areas are borderline untenable if you can't work on them independently of the rest of the puzzle. I did like the overall results, generally pretty smooth and professional, but entries like EPOCHAL, NOT HERE, and OGEE ARCH don't do a lot for me. NINTH TEE also felt a tad arbitrary, but I guess it's as valid as SEVEN IRON or other such golf terms.

Great cluing potential for MENACHIM — dang it, MENACHEM! (I was 100% sure it was the former.) MENACHEM Begin just begs to be used with clever wordplay, misdirecting to the verb "begin." Today's clue, [Begin at the beginning?] tried hard, but it didn't quite do it for me. "Beginning" does suggest "first name," but I would have preferred something that didn't require a telltale question mark. Perhaps like [Begin founding a political party].

Finally, some great mid-length entries like WHAT THE…, ZEN MONK, EGG DROP, JUNK ART. Overall, a solving experience much better than the average low-word-count experience.